In pictures: Hunger stalks Niger

About six million people at risk as food crisis worsens in the Sahel region hit by poor harvests.

It is nearing the end of the lean season in Niger, and Tini Kane's food reserves have almost run out. Fifty years old and widowed three times, Tini is responsible for feeding 23 members of her family. She says she can't find a job and has had to sell her goats to cope with the bad harvests of both this year and the last. She often goes hungry and her grandchildren suffer from malnutrition. “The misery of Niger is famine,” she exclaims.

Similar exasperation is shared by millions of others in a region caught up in a humanitarian disaster.

The food crisis currently afflicting an estimated 18 million in Niger, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Senegal, and other countries across the Sahel has roots in a multitude of economic, environmental, social, and political factors. Desertification and climate change, as well as pest infestations, volatile rains, and long periods of drought have led to years of crop failures and poor harvests in the region.

Four million children are projected to suffer from acute malnutrition, with at least one million at risk of developing severe acute malnutrition.

In Niger, population growth, high fuel costs, and the rising price of staple foods coupled with chronic poverty and a lack of basic healthcare, sanitation, and education have placed more than six million at risk of going hungry in a country with a population of approximately 15.5 million.

The conflict in Northern Mali has put further strain on food shortages and insecurity in the region. More than 430,000 people have fled Mali and sought refuge in bordering countries, with as many as 50,000 fleeing to Niger alone.

There is also a fundamental lack of protection against erratic rises in food prices.

Many families like Tini's have resorted to selling their livestock, often far below market prices, in order to pay for food on a daily basis.

Desperate times, after all, necessitates desperate measures.

But yet, the battle against hunger is seemingly being lost. Non-governmental agencies have stepped in but the deficit remains to be bridged. Meanwhile, queues of emaciated mothers and rickety children are getting longer at relief camps.

Al Jazeera

A farmer examines grain that has gone bad on his land
in the southern town of Guidan Roumdji, Niger.

Al Jazeera

A boy carries a sack of grain on his head in Guidan Roumdji.

Al Jazeera

The market in Guidan Roumdji bustles as vendors sell grain imported from Nigeria and animals are sold below market price.

Al Jazeera

Camels are sold for half of their normal market price at Guidan Roumdji.

Al Jazeera

A vendor sells grain imported from Nigeria. Because harvests in Niger have been poor,
most of the food sold at the market has been imported from Nigeria and are sold
at higher prices than local stock.

Al Jazeera

Tini Kane, 50 years old, prepares food for her family. Kane says she is responsible for feeding 23 of her family members.

Al Jazeera

A young girl is served a meagre amount of food to bring back
to her family. Six million of Niger\(***)s approximately 15.5 million people are at risk of going hungry.

Al Jazeera

Ramatou
Sahiou, 21, stands next to the tent where her baby has been admitted for severe malnutrition at the Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans
Frontières (MSF) intensive nutritional rehabilitation centre in the town of
Guidan Roumdji, Niger. MSF has had to set up tents to accommodate the overwhelming number of patients who arrive each day, many of whom suffer from malaria,
malnutrition, respiratory infections, and diarrhoea.

Al Jazeera

A baby suffering from severe malnutrition lies on a bed at the MSF intensive nutritional rehabilitation centre.

Al Jazeera

Two-year-old Nasser lies on a bed with his mother at the MSF centre.

Al Jazeera

Women and their babies wait for their first medical consultation at the
MSF centre.

Al Jazeera

A nurse administers therapeutic milk formula, as part of the first phase of malnourishment stabilisation at the MSF centre.

Al Jazeera

Women line up to receive dinner for themselves and their babies at the MSF centre.

Al Jazeera

Hospital
staff distribute food to patients and their mothers at the MSF centre.

Al Jazeera

A woman sits with her malnourished child at the MSF centre.

Al Jazeera

A farmer examines grain that has gone bad on his land
in the southern town of Guidan Roumdji, Niger.

Al Jazeera

A boy carries a sack of grain on his head in Guidan Roumdji.

Al Jazeera

The market in Guidan Roumdji bustles as vendors sell grain imported from Nigeria and animals are sold below market price.

Al Jazeera

Camels are sold for half of their normal market price at Guidan Roumdji.

Al Jazeera

A vendor sells grain imported from Nigeria. Because harvests in Niger have been poor,
most of the food sold at the market has been imported from Nigeria and are sold
at higher prices than local stock.

Al Jazeera

Tini Kane, 50 years old, prepares food for her family. Kane says she is responsible for feeding 23 of her family members.

Al Jazeera

A young girl is served a meagre amount of food to bring back
to her family. Six million of Niger\(***)s approximately 15.5 million people are at risk of going hungry.

Al Jazeera

Ramatou
Sahiou, 21, stands next to the tent where her baby has been admitted for severe malnutrition at the Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans
Frontières (MSF) intensive nutritional rehabilitation centre in the town of
Guidan Roumdji, Niger. MSF has had to set up tents to accommodate the overwhelming number of patients who arrive each day, many of whom suffer from malaria,
malnutrition, respiratory infections, and diarrhoea.

Al Jazeera

A baby suffering from severe malnutrition lies on a bed at the MSF intensive nutritional rehabilitation centre.

Al Jazeera

Two-year-old Nasser lies on a bed with his mother at the MSF centre.

Al Jazeera

Women and their babies wait for their first medical consultation at the
MSF centre.

Al Jazeera

A nurse administers therapeutic milk formula, as part of the first phase of malnourishment stabilisation at the MSF centre.

Al Jazeera

Women line up to receive dinner for themselves and their babies at the MSF centre.

Al Jazeera

Hospital
staff distribute food to patients and their mothers at the MSF centre.